Officials say regional dispatch could save money, improve service

Thursday

Apr 25, 2013 at 6:00 AM

By Michael D. Kane BANNER EDITOR

West Boylston is one step closer to joining a regional dispatch system after selectmen last week gave tacit approval to work done so far.

The board heard an update on negotiations with the city of Worcester last week from David Clemens, director of emergency communications for the city, and Thomas Zidelis, chief financial officer for the city.

West Boylston has been involved in a near two-year negotiation with Worcester to share or pay for dispatch services, Town Administrator Leon Gaumond Jr. said. The initial proposal had been looked into by several central Massachusetts towns, including Boylston. Currently, only Leicester and West Boylston have moved forward, though Worcester is starting to talk to other towns again.

According to the proposal outlined by the Worcester officials, the city is offering a “shareholder” based system, meaning the city would provide dispatchers and the town would be assessed for those services.

The proposal is different from regionalized dispatch in that it is “scalable,” Clemens said. What this means for Worcester, and partner communities, is that a community can quit the arrangement without the steps necessary in a region.

A region would be a stand-alone, legal entity that billed (assessed) all the member communities. One town could not leave a region without significant change to the existing entity and agreements among members.

“One size does not fit all,” Clemens said. “If a town wants to leave (a region) it is beholden to a legal entity. We exist now. Our sole responsibility is dispatch.”

Under the proposal, all existing services provided by West Boylston dispatchers – like after-hours referral calls to the Water District and Municipal Light Plant – and all contracts with tow companies would be honored, he said.

“All we do is take what you are doing today and move it into a regional center,” he said.

Under the plan presented, West Boylston would save about $272,000, based on the budget for next year. That includes four dispatchers, and money set aside annually for capital and equipment upgrades.

Post-retirement benefits for dispatchers, like pensions and health insurance, would become the responsibility of the city (see story at right).

Savings are grant-dependent. Some of the money to operate would come from a grant focused on regional safety.

The grant in question is from earmarked money, Clemens said. Unlike the grants many departments are evaporating while the legislature deals with tough budgets, the money for regional dispatch centers is coming from a source that is funded with dedicated surcharges on all phone bills.

“The system is designed to be self-supporting,” Clemens said. “That's different from the other grant programs. This has been stable and even had increases.”

Even if the grant was discontinued, the town still saves money over today's budget, he noted, though it would be significantly less. Without the grant, the savings would be $36,766, based on current costs.

The main argument during West Boylston discussions in favor of regionalizing dispatch from Police Chief Dennis Minnich Sr. and former Fire Chief Richard Pauley Jr. has centered on improved service. Clemens provided details on how the Worcester center would be an improvement over a single-dispatch system now in use in West Boylston.

It starts with simply having more staffing, and having the ability to bring more people onto West Boylston's lines in the event of an emergency or major disruption, or what Clemens said was the ability to “dynamically adjust staffing for real time” emergencies.

While West Boylston, and other communities that join, would have a dedicated 911 dispatcher, if a second call came in, one of the other dispatchers on duty could take the call. Now, people are placed on hold if a second emergency call comes in while they are on the line. All dispatchers will be cross trained for all communities, Clemens said.

The same level of service would hold true for a medical emergency. Now, the solo dispatcher takes the call, puts the caller on hold to dispatch units. Under this system, the dispatcher would never sever the connection with the caller. The location and information would be put into a computer, which would be forwarded to responding units by another dispatcher.

One dispatcher would always remain in contact with the caller; a second would remain in contact with responding units.

“No small town in Central Mass. can say the same thing,” Clemens said. “How does a dispatcher prioritize one call over another?”

West Boylston's current staff will be hired, if members pass Worcester's physical and drug test, he said. However, he said people should not be concerned about responding units being sent to the wrong location by dispatchers. All of the calls will be passed through computerized location software.

Regarding that issue, Clemens said Worcester currently has 58 dispatchers. Most are young, many do not live in the city, yet, units are not sent to the wrong location because of the software in place.

“(Computer-aided dispatch) provides directions and a map on the screen,” he said.

Some questions have to be handled internally, Gaumond and Clemens said. For instance, dispatchers now do some clerical work for the departments when not taking calls. Those duties would not be transferred to Worcester and would need to be picked up by staff in West Boylston.

Likewise, there is still a question on how to handle walk-ins to the station during hours when it would not be staffed, such as overnight. One idea is a video phone that would connect to dispatch, inside a room that could be locked from the inside if someone felt unsafe.

There is also the question of upgrading software and radios. Gaumond is hopeful a regionalization grant could be used if the town moves forward, especially in light of the fact that the town's outdated software needs replacing anyway.

“We're still working on this,” Gaumond said. “This is not the finished product … there is still a couple of pages worth of questions.

“We're running a marathon. We can see the finish line, but we're not quite there yet,” he said.

After the meeting, Gaumond confirmed that he has also asked Holden to consider West Boylston in its ongoing study about regional dispatch. However, he said no official meetings have taken place yet between the two towns.

Minnich, who was at the meeting, declined to comment during the presentation. After the meeting he said he is still a proponent of regional dispatch for many of the reasons raised during the presentation and stated by him in the past.